A Belfair couple charged by the federal government this month for a practice known as “pretexting” had earlier piqued the interest of the state’s Department of Licensing.

The department had received a complaint that Emilio and Brandy Torrella were operating a private investigations firm out of a Belfair strip mall without a state-mandated investigators’ license, a gross misdemeanor in the state.

But the year-long federal “Operation Dialing for Dollars” inquiry reported that the Torrellas were at the center of a nationwide fraud scheme. Their firm, armed with personal information, was “pretexting,” or posing as others to illegally access tax, medical and employment histories for a fee — offenses that clearly trump practicing without a license.

“We were aware of the unlicensed activity,” said Christine Anthony, a DOL spokeswoman, “but we didn’t get to point of investigating it because of the federal government’s investigation.”

Federal documents filed by the Western Washington U.S. attorney’s office say the Torrellas’ business, “BNT Investigations,” would work on behalf of other private investigators across the country by adopting others’ identities. They called various state and federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, and accessed private information — such as tax returns.

They were paid fees ranging from $30 to $300, and federal prosecutors believe as many as 12,000 people were affected by their so-called pretexting activities.

The private investigators had contacted the Torrellas and BNT Investigations on behalf of “attorneys, insurance companies and collection agencies to investigate the backgrounds of opposing parties,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

What the feds allege the Torrellas were doing was clearly illegal, but the individuals and agencies hiring them were also looking to skirt the law. As a result, seven private investigators from around the country were indicted on similar charges as the Torrellas.

Some of the state’s leading licensed private eyes are upset that the Belfair couple have been labeled investigators at all, saying their activities give a bad name to real investigators who do legitimate work.

“It reflects badly on us,” said Thomas Solin, a Bellingham-based private investigator of more than 30 years and past president of the Washington Association of Legal Investigators. “When somebody asks, ‘Can you get somebody’s medical information?’ we say, ‘No, sorry, we can’t do that.’”

Visitors to the Department of Licensing’s Web site would find that BNT Investigations had a valid business license — just not a private investigations license. Attaining the latter would have required the couple to undergo background checks and pass a standardized investigations test.

There are approximately 700 licensed private investigators in the state, according to Mike Hawkins, president of Washington’s legal investigators’ association. Their functions are “extremely broad,” he said, and their activities range from looking into insurance fraud to serving lawsuits.

Some investigators even use “pretexting” as a tool during their inquiries, Solin said. But there is a clear definition of what pretexting is legal, and what is not.

“The line is really clear,” Solin said. “When you start looking for somebody’s financial information, and you’re making a person believe you’re someone else, you know you’ve crossed the line.”

For instance, a law firm investigator could pose as a pizza delivery man to serve a lawsuit. But it’s against the law for an investigator to pose as someone else in an attempt to get someone else’s medical records.

The bottom line, according to Hawkins: “Good pretexting is getting information you’re legally entitled to get.”

Information protected under state or federal privacy laws is off limits, he said.

Before hiring an investigator, both Hawkins and Solin advise residents to consult the DOL’s private investigator Web site — http://dol.wa.gov/business/pi — to ensure they’re licensed.